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Did the Philippine eagle call in sick? The Miss Universe Philippines stage seemed to have surrendered to something more arcane. Filipino mythology took reign at the National Costume segment—from goddesses of the sky to the aswang and the tiyanak. To make sense of the magic, we gave the chaos structure: monsters to one side, muses to the other.
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The Divine Women
Benguet
From Benguet came the Kuyapon brought to life by Maiko Ibarde. She walked as an otherworldly deer-woman draped in ancestral tattoos and crowned with antlers of wisdom.
Sultan Kudarat
Regal from head to hem, Chelsea Fernandez paid homage to Princess Lawanen, Mindanaoan royalty. A mechanical reveal brought the story to life—bamboo arches, Okir carvings, and the rhythm of Mindanao’s spirit.
Isabela
Bamboo split, and out came Ikapati—goddess of harvest, heartbreak, and hidden power—summoned through Isabela’s bet Jarina Sandhu. Draped in harvest tones, she honored her land not just with beauty, but with myth made flesh.
Bulacan
Franchezca Pacheco rose as Hanan, goddess of the morning, light, and new beginnings. Golden folds, cosmic motifs, and a headdress like an exploding sunrise kept the look radiant on all levels.
Quirino
Bianca Ylanan came dressed as the whole ecosystem. Representing the Sierra Madre, she wore the forest’s finest: bark-textured armor, vine fringe, and the calm menace of the mountain that’s witnessed it all.
The Lore Creatures
Caloocan
There’s no hiding from Walo. Allyson Ee’s costume came with eight heads and a thousand eyes, a representation of Caloocan’s multi-eyed myth that sees through silence, speaks in symbols, and remembers what history forgets.
Siargao
Siargao didn’t send a surfer—it sent the Tiyanak. Millien Cabigas arrived blood-stained, skulls and limbs swinging like accessories, and the energy of your worst childhood nightmare.
Quezon Province
In Quezon Province, the Tiktik once preyed at night. Yet Ahtisa Manalo showed us what happens when the myth gets a makeover, reimagining the legend not as a monster, but as a muse through all its elegant edges. You don’t run from this Tiktik. You stare.
Bohol
Tyra Goldman took the Mulawin myth and made it hers. Alwina flew in like she owned the sky—feathers billowing, power radiating, as if the eagle spirit had decided to take a day off and let her take the reins.
Ifugao
With porcelain skin and unreadable eyes, Valerie Pawid West became Ifugao’s forgotten guardian, the Engkanto. Dressed in ghost-toned bark and clay, she channeled a mystic of the wild, neither god nor human.
Muses or monsters—who had your vote? Either way, the myths walked, and we watched.
Featured Image and Photos: MARC CACERES and BRIAN MAMAWAN
